Half A Heart
by shurtugxl
Summary: When a deformed dragon egg is rejected by it's mother, the Dragon Riders take it and hope it will hatch for a Rider. When it does, however, they could never have imagined what would happen. Set before the Fall of the Riders. **Update Every Monday! OCxOC, OCxGalbatorix, and Some Canon Pairings.**
1. Prologue

_**Half A Heart: Prologue**_

It was smaller than most, about half the size it should be. As the white-haired elf hands over the surface, he found it rough, unlike all other eggs he had seen. Where most eggs were about the size of one's forearm and a brilliant shining color with lighter veins snaking across the surface, this one was stunted, and had a reddish-gold color to it that paled in comparison to the other eggs. To another's eye, it would be considered ugly. To this elf, however, it was something new, something interesting.  
 _'It is deformed,'_ a booming voice spoke.  
Behind the elf, a large white dragon lowered his head to sniff the egg as if testing to see if it was an actual member of his species. No one had ever seen an egg that looked like this before. It was... unusual.  
"We should not abandon it, Bid'Daum. It's mother does not want it so we shall see if it will hatch for a rider," he replied to his dragon. They had found the egg over a week ago, alone and abandoned. Its mother had left it to die, probably deeming it weak from it's appearance. But Eragon was not one to let an innocent dragon die. He had picked up the egg, despite his own dragons protests, and brought it to the hatchery where all of the riderless eggs sat.  
Eragon looked over the egg once more before putting his hand that was marked with the gedwey ignasia over it, closing his eyes and whispering in the Ancient Language. The spell that he cast over the egg would make sure that it did not hatch until it's intended rider came into contact with it. The dragon inside the egg would wait decades - centuries -if it had to. Eragon only hoped that it would hatch, and not sleep inside it's egg for eternity. The silver mark on his palm glowed white as he spoke in his native language.  
As the last words were spoken, and the spell finished, Eragon handed over the red-gold egg to an elf who cared for them. His gaze lingered over it for a moment longer before he turned and walked out of the building, Bid'Daum following behind him.  
' _It will not hatch. I doubt there is anything alive in there,'_ the dragon huffed, plumes of smoke billowing from his nostrils. He crouched down, his underbelly scraping the dirt below him as his rider expertly climbed up his leg and into the nape between the dragons' neck and shoulders. The glistening white scales were rough, but he had gotten used to riding bareback. He curled his digits around a single spike, keeping his balance as the dragon rose from the ground to his full height.  
"Do not be so quick to dismiss this egg, Bid'Daum, perhaps it will grow into something great," the elf replied as his dragon flared his wings and lept into the air. With three powerful strokes, they were in the air.

 _A/N:_

 _Hello readers!_

 _I'd just like to thank you for taking time to read this. This is my first ever fanfiction and I've had this idea in my head for a while now. One weekend I decided to sit down and actually write it down and got through three chapters. After that school started busting my butt and I had to take a break from this story. But I'm returning now, and hopefully I'll be able to provide you guys with a chapter a week.  
But anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reads this!  
-Rhea c: (aka. shurtugxl)_


	2. Chapter 1

p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"emstrongbigbigHalf A Heart: Chapter 1/big/big/strong/em/span/p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Y-yes, father," the fifteen year old girl bit her lip, nearly hard enough to draw blood as her father's brown eyes glared at her. She didn't dare look into them. Instead, she kept her honey colored eyes focused on her sandaled / "Go, now!" Anyone could tell that he was drunk by his slurred words if not for the half-empty bottle in his hand. The brown liquid sloshed inside as he lifted it to his lips again. With her head down, the girl nearly ran towards the fields. Whenever he was drunk - which was most of the time - it was wise to steer clear of him. She already had bruises forming her light brown skin from mistakes she had made earlier that week while he was drinking. She didn't want to made him mad / Her mother had died in childbirth, when she was having Ismae. Her father had told her the story only once. That he and her mother had had a child before her, a boy, who had been the love of their lives. He was perfect, but made his parents angry when he wanted to be a ship merchant instead of continuing the family turnip farm. Her brother had abruptly left one night, leaving his parents without so much as a note. So, in their grief and anger, they decided to have another son, only it didn't turn out that way. Ismae's pregnancy hadn't been easy, and it was a surprise that the baby had survived the birthing. Her mother hadn't, and her father blamed Ismae on her death, as well as her brother leaving. He's still alive today, or at least her father thinks so. Late at night, when he isn't so drunk, Isame could sometime catch him staring at a painting, crying sometimes. It pictured a teenage boy, a young mother and cheerful father. Though it was nearly two decades ago, Ismae could tell that the man was her father, and that was the life he had had / Shaking her head of those memories, she got down on her knees and started to work. She dug her hands into the soil and started pulling up the turnips and placing them in the basket. She had been late waking up this morning and when her father had woken around noon and didn't see her in the field, he grew angry. He was hung over from the night before and his solution was to get drunk again to get rid of the headache. He had woken her by slapping her across the face - she could already feel another large bruise forming there - and screaming in her ear. She has lost several hours of daylight time for the harvest. It took close to two days to pick all of the turnips out of the fields that surrounded their house. The hours she had wasted sleeping would be caught up at night. She wouldn't be able to go to sleep until early / "Psst." She paused her work and looked up, but saw nothing. After a few moments she went back to her work, picking up another turnip and placing it in the / "Psssst. Ismae!" The voice was louder this time, and it said her name. She sighed as she recognized the voice. First she looked behind her, making sure her father was gone. He was inside, no doubt in front of the fire with his whiskey in / "Merrik! What are you doing here?" Her voice was hushed, worried that her father could / The boy rose, his head peaking out of the tall grass that surrounded the fields. A smile plastered itself on his face as he caught sight of Ismae and she couldn't help the one that made to her lips either. Merrik was her best friend - her only friend, / It was ten years ago that her father had taken her into town to buy some food. He was drunk, of course, and had grown angry when she had lagged behind. She was only five at the time and wasn't strong enough to carry all of the food. She wasn't a mule, but her father apparently didn't know he diference. He had lashed out at her, and Merrik saw from his family's blacksmithing barn. He saved her by stepping in front of her and taking the slap for her, which had only ended up making her father angrier. When they got home she endured the beating of a lifetime. But still, that boy who had saved her didn't leave her mind. He had found out who she was and every day he would walk the four miles outside of town to her house to make sure she was okay. She wasn't most of the time, but he somehow made it / "The Dragon Riders are here, Ismae! Haven't you always said that you were going to escape this place someday? The Riders are your chance!" He made his way into the field, hopping the fence and sitting next to her, pulling out turnips and putting them in the basket, looking at her every so / The Dragon Riders came every year to the small town of Belatona. They came with two eggs that they hoped would hatch for two kids in the town. Ismae had always dreamed of becoming a Dragon Rider. She could be a hero, she could be strong, she could be independent and confident. But it was just a dream. What dragon would choose her as it's rider?br / She gave Merrik a discontinuing / "An egg wouldn't hatch for me. Dragons are too..." She couldn't find the right word and ended up shaking her head. They were dragons, she was a turnip farmer's daughter. She wasn't worthy of them. She couldn't live up to the standards that Dragon Rider's / "Well what's the harm in trying? All you have to do is touch it. Then you can come home and finish picking turnips out of the ground." Merrik ran a hand through his long, black hair before he reached into the soil to pick up another / "He'll know." She replied, not looking at her friend, focusing on her / "Not if you're fast. I bet he's already passed out. He won't wake up for hours."br / Ismae sighed and stopped harvesting. Silence passed between / "Fine." What was the harm in trying?br / Merrik smiled and stood, Ismae following him as they made their way down the path and towards the village. Everyone in the town knew that the Dragon Riders were there. There was talk of it in the street and children playing, pretending they had dragons of their own and were fighting villainous foes with / "They're in the town center. There's already a line close to a mile long! And it's two elves this time. And their dragons are huge! One's red and the other is green. I bet they're at least twenty years old!" Merrik kept talking about the dragons. He was a fanatic about them. Since seeing them for the first time when he was seven, he had always wanted to be a Rider. He got ahold of any dragon related information he could. And though Isame often dismissed anything he told her, she was as interested in it as he was. It was a world away from her, and besides the times they came to hatch more eggs, they seemed like a fantasy out of a dreambr / It took close to an hour for them to reach the front of the line. The two eggs they had brought with them were magnificent. One was a dark black color with lighter grey veins stretching cross it. It looked like a polished obsidian stone. The other was small. It was rough looking and a red-brown color. As everyone went up to touch the eggs, you could see how they avoided the red-brown egg. It was small and ugly. Everyone wanted the big and strong dragon that would come out of the black egg. Ismae couldn't look way from the deformed egg, though. She found it's difference / It was her turn now. She went up the steps and stopped at the eggs. The elves, one male and one female, and their dragons stood behind the eggs, acting as / "Place your hands on the egg. We will know if it bonds to you," the male elf spoke. Ismae's honey-colored eyes met the elf's blue ones before nodding. She placed her hand on the black egg first. Its surface as smooth and cool. emIt's surreal/em, she thought. emI'm touching a dragon egg. An actual dragon./em There was still that doubt in her mind that it would actually hatch, but just the thought of it brought her joy. She couldn't help the smile that came to her / "Try the other one. The black is not yours," the elf spoke again, drawing her attention away from the egg. Her smile fell into a frown as she pulled attention to the second egg. Again, despite it's appearences, she found it beautiful. She lifted her hand and placed it on it's rough surface and found she couldn't look away. The longer she looked at it, the more she fell in love with / Then it / She blinked once and a look of confusion crossed her face. Ismae looked up to the male elf, expecting an explanation, only to find a slight frown on his face. He looked to the other elf, a female and spoke in a language that Ismae didn't understand. The Ancient Language, the tongue that the elves, Dragon Riders, and magicians spoke. It was the language of magic and / "Come," the female spoke as she picked up the egg that shook and placed it in Ismae's arms. Then she turned and walked towards the town hall. It was where the new riders went after their egg had accepted them. Did this mean that the red-gold egg was hers? A smile came to her face at the / "You will stay in here. We will come get you when we are finished." Then the elf left. Isame looked around the hall. She had never been in the building before, only having saw the outside whenever she was in / Her eyes fell to the egg in her arms. It was only slightly bigger than the two of her hands. Slowly, she ran her hands along the surface of the egg. It looked as though it was made of dull dragon scales. She wondered why it was so different from the other eggs. Maybe there were multiple species of dragons. Or this was a deformed one? But whatever the reason, she didn't care. She was happy that it chose / Then her thoughts drifted towards her father. He'd be furious if he found out that she left the harvest to go see the dragons. He'd blow a gasket when he learned that an egg chose her. No one would be there to help him anymore. She'd have to leave him. She'd have a better life away from him, though. One filled with dragons and magic and fighting. But what if she wasn't cut out for it? She was a turnip farmer's daughter. She couldn't do any of the things the other riders would be able to do. If they'd found out about her past they'd taunt her and tease / The opening of the door broke her from her thoughts. Merrik came rushing in, a wide smile on his face and in his arms, a black dragon / "Ismae! Guess what? The egg shook! It chose me! I'm going to be a Dragon Rider!" He shouted, his voice echoing against the marble walls of the / "That's great Merrik!" She replied, a small smile coming to her face. She wouldn't be alone when she went off to train to be a Dragon Rider, at least. She'd have her best friend with / "Ismae Garrettsdottir. Merrik Greyson," The female elf spoke, looking between them with her forest green eyes. "You two have been chosen as the new riders to these eggs. You must go home to pack your items and say your good-byes. Essential items only. Meet Glenwing and I back here within an hour."br / The two left the hall, dragon eggs in hand, and went home. First, they went to Merrik's home. When he told his mother that he was chosen, she started crying. She said that a Dragon Rider's life was much better then the life of a poor blacksmith. Many hugs and kisses were given as well as many tears shed, but in the end, Merrik said good-bye to his mother, father and little sister, promising that he would be back as soon as he could so they could meet his / As Ismae and Merrik walked the four miles to her house outside the city, she grew increasingly nervous. The closer they got, the more the stone in her stomach sunk. By the time her house was in view, Merrik had to convince her that she needed to tell her father that she was / "Father," she called as she walked into the living room, only to find him passed out on the chair. Placing the dragon egg on an adjoining chair, she walked over to him and shook his shoulders. He woke up with cuss words and a swing of his fist. Ismae managed to avoid his / "What are you waking me up for emgirl/em?" He shouted, straightening up as he searched his pockets for his / "I'm leaving, dad. I went to see the Dragon Riders. An egg..." Her mouth shut as his eyes met hers. There was fury in them, just as she had thought would / "You left the harvest?! Now it'll take you three times as long to dig up all the turnips! You insolent girl!" His voice rose to a yell towards his last sentence and Ismae took a step back. Merrik came up behind her, intertwining his fingers in hers. Ismae looked down towards the touch, and then to Merrik. The small smile on his face gave her a small burst of / "I'm leaving. An egg chose me. I'm going to be a Dragon Rider." Her words were confident for the first time as she spoke to him. Her father was taken aback. She'd never looked straight in his eyes for over a minute, now she was talking / "Girl, I outta break every bone in your body!" He raised his hand and swung down, intending to slap her, but she was shoved backwards. Merrik had pushed her down to the floor, and moved to intercept her father. Merrik caught his hand in mid-air, stopping the slap. There was fury in both of the men's / "emDon't/em. emTouch/em. emHer/em." The tone of Merrik's voice was one that Ismae had never heard before. It was protective and confident. Isame stood from the ground and placed her hand on Merrik's shoulder, not looking into her father's eyes / "Merrik. Let's go." She was less confident this time, but she just wanted to leave. She was ready to leave this town / Merrik continued to stare into her father's eyes for a few more seconds before letting go of his arm. He grabbed the eggs, handing the smaller to Ismae before they left the / Their walk back to Belatona was silent. They found the two elves in the building that they had left them in. Merrik had grabbed his items and placed them in a backpack, but Isame had none. The fight with her father had distracted them. The male elf, Glenwing, questioned it, but neither replied. They did not want to tell the elves of Isame's / "Now that both of the eggs have chosen Riders, we will made our way to Vroenguard where you will be trained," said Glenwing. "It will take two days to get there by dragon back. We will rest at night and travel by day. Your dragons should hatch any time between a few hours to a few days." Ismae nodded, her eyes falling to the egg she held in her / They made their way outside to where the elves' dragons had been resting. A group of people had gathered around the town square. They were there to see the two new riders off. Merrik smiled and waved to the crowd, showing off his egg as he did so. Ismae on the other hand managed a smile. She wasn't used to all of the stares. It made her / "This, is Soreth," said Glenwing, putting a hand on the green dragon's leg. Soreth lowered her head down to Merrik and Ismae's height, a single green eye staring at them for a moment before standing tall once / "emPleasure/em." The two jumped at the word. They had not seen anyone speak and looked towards the elves for an answer. It was the female who / "Dragons talk with their minds, though usually only to their rider." She said with a bored expression. "Your dragons will start talking close to a month after they hatch."br / "emI am El'nil. Forgive my Rider. Aila can come off as rude, though she does not mean to be./em" A second voice invaded their thoughts this time. Ismae looked towards the light red dragon standing behind the female elf, Alia. He was larger then the green, though not by much. His translucent wings opened / "emShall we go?/em" br / Alia nodded once and expertly climbed onto her dragon's saddle, offering a hand down to Ismae. She climbed up the dragons side, her opposite hand clutching the egg against her stomach. Glenwing did the same for / The crowd around them cheered as the dragons opened their wings and lept into the sky. Ismae, however, barely noticed them. She was more focused on the ground growing smaller beneath her. Her stomach clenched and her heart started to race. As the dragons climbed higher into the sky, Belatona kept getting smaller. Soon it was the size of her thumb. The dragons leveled off with Soreth leading the / "emI will not drop you./em" The voice she recognized as El'nil sounded in her head / "I've never flown before. It's frightening." She replied aloud, having to shout over the roaring wind in her / "You should get used to it. Soon you will be flying every day."br / Ismae simply nodded into Alia's back and closed her eyes, hoping to settle her vaulting stomach./p 


	3. Chapter 2

p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"emstrongbigbigHalf A Heart: Chapter 2/big/big/strong/em/span/p  
p style="text-align: left;"emstrong /strong/emThey landed several hours later, just as the sun was disappearing over the horizon and the sky turning orange. Ismae found herself relieved as the ground started to get bigger under them, and nearly fell off of the red dragon once her paws hit the ground. Flying upset her stomach and she had to put her head between her legs for a few moments to settle / Merrik, on the other hand, was whooping as he hopped off of Glenwing's dragon, Soreth. The elf even smiled at the humans excitement and the dragon rumbled as / "That was awesome! I can't wait until my dragon hatches and learns how to fly..." Ismae turned him out after that, used to his lively, talkative / With Glenwing's direction, Ismae started to collect some firewood as the other's set up for the night and as the sun set, camp was finished. The girl lay out on her bed mat, the egg on her lap, and a fire crackling not far from her. The night was cold, causing goose bumps on her skin, but the fire soothed her a bit, as did the egg in her lap. Her eye's didn't leave it, silently wishing that it would hatch in that moment. She was excited to see the beast that lay / Soft singing drew her focus away from the egg. She saw Alia and Merrik sitting around the fire, both staring at Glenwing. He was slowly rocking back and forth as he sang. It was beautiful. It wasn't of any language that Ismae knew of, but sounded like bird song. The two humans listened with fervor. It was as nothing as they had heard before. Alia interjected every once in a while, adding some words of the Ancient Language to Glenwing's song, and together, the music created was alluring. They couldn't help but listen. Even the dragons that lay behind them seemed to be entranced by the elves' / It was Merrik who broke the / "It's hatching!" Merrik's voice drew Ismae away from the elves' music which had abruptly stopped as the elves focused their attention on the human boy. The black egg lay in the grass, it's rider crouching behind it, watching it carefully as it rocked back and forth. A few minutes passed before the first cracks appeared, small ping's sounding out every so often, like something was knocking in the / "Stay back. This moment is only for Merrik." Glenwing whispered. Both the elves and their dragons looked on in wonder as cracks snaked along the obsidian egg. No doubt they had seen eggs hatch dozens of times. Perhaps it was simply because they were elves, and valued the miracle of a new dragon emerging from it's / A loud resonating ping drew Ismae's attention away from the elves and towards Merrik's egg once more. The cracks now covered the egg, and with another rock, the egg broke. A small black dragon lay in the broken shell pieces. It's eyes opened, revealing an icy blue iris that stood out against it's obsidian scales. It cawed, and looked towards Merrik. It blinked once. Then it's attention was torn from the human and towards itself. The baby dragon attempted to stand, struggling at first, but was eventually able to stand on it's own legs. It's membraned wings flared as it's blue eyes met Merrik's brown orbs again. A silent moment passed, like a subconscious connection passed between the two as Merrik reached out his hand and the dragon took a step towards himbr / As the hatchling's head and Merrik's hand met, Merrik let out a pained gasp before his eyes closed and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Ismae's eyes widened and she attempted go to Merrik's side, but Glenwing's hand on her shoulder kept her in her place. How did he get next to her so fast?br / "He will be alright." Were his words. They didn't calm Ismae, but they kept her in place. The hatchling sniffed Merrik's fingers and cooed quietly, as if worried for the human. Then, with a gasp, Merrik's eyes opened and he sat up with a groan. He lifted his hand and looked at it with a confused / "It is the gedway ignasia," Alia said, speaking for the first time since they had landed. "Every Rider bears the mark." She lifted her own hand, removing the leather glove and showed off the silvery mark on her palm. Both humans looked at the mark. They were learning more about riders then they had expected to this / "Ismae..." Merrik didn't take his eyes off of his dragon, nor his silver palm, but called his friend to him. Leaving her own egg on the mat, Ismae joined Merrik by his side. "I- It won't happen to me, will it? The mark on my hand if I touch his dragon?" Isame looked towards the elves, but the red dragon spoke / "emA dragon will only bond once, and that Is with it's rider/em," Alia's dragon El'nil, spoke as he brought his head over to the small hatchling, sniffing the new creature. Merrik's dragon growled at the bigger dragon, attempting to appear strong, but El'nil blew smoke, surrounding the black dragon in plumbs of grey clouds. He rumbled, a laugh, at the hatchling before pulling his head away to focus a single eye on / "emHe is feisty,/em" A soft voice spoke in their minds, Glenwing's dragon, Soreth. "emHe will grow to be intimidating to all who see him./em" Merrik smiled at / "Rest now, Merrik, we must wake early tomorrow to get to Ellesmera by late afternoon. It will be a long flight." Glenwing said before making his way over to Soreth. The fire continued to crackle as Ismae laid down on her sleeping mat and curled around her egg as of protecting it from the world. She closed her eyes and dreamt of herself on a dragons back with a sword in / She woke the next morning to see that the fire had gone out and the elves awake, packing up what few belongings they had. Ismae streached with a yawn and stood. They were up in the air within the hour. Isame was sitting behind Alia on El'nil and Merrik was riding with Glenwing on Soreth. The air was cold at the altitide they were flying so Ismae was forced to wrap herself in a / A few hours into their flight, Ismae spoke up. "Alia," She shouted over the wind that was roaring in her ears and distorting her words, "Can I ask you something?"br / 'emThink your question within your mind, so you do not have to yell over the winds,/em' Came a female's voice, much more calm then Isame's / 'emOkay/em,' She wasn't used to communicating using her thoughts. 'emI was wondering - I've seen a bunch of eggs go through Belatona, and all are like polished stones./em' She looked down at her egg. 'emBut why is this one rough and dull?/em'br / It was silent for a few moments, and Isame considered yelling her words aloud to make sure that Alia had heard them, before the elf / em'No one knows why that egg is as it is. It was born of a wild dragon pair, whose names are not known, and left to die. The Great Eragon and The Mighty Bid'Daum - the first Dragon Rider pair - found the egg while flying for leisure. They picked it up and brought it back to Ilirea, where all eggs that are destined to be bonded to riders go. He cast the spell over the egg himself, and until yesterday, had shown no signs of life. Not many know of this story, but I suppose this story will be known when the dragon inside hatches from it's unusual egg and all lay eyes upon him.'/embr / Ismae thought for a long while on what Alia had told her. The egg wrapped in her arms was found by the first Dragon Rider? Merrik had told her of Eragon and Bid'Daum on several occasions. He loved the story of the little elf boy who ended a war by taking a dragon egg and raising it. They traveled across the land, making peace between dragons and elves, thus ending the war and founding the Order of the Dragon Riders. It was that man who had found this egg abandoned and decided to give it a chance at life. She smiled, thinking of how fate had to have brought the two of them / 'emThank you, Alia./em'br / The elf simply nodded./p  
p style="text-align: left;"**********************/p  
p style="text-align: left;"emA/N/em/p  
p style="text-align: left;"emPlease remember that comments, favorites, and likes will make me write faster!/em/p  
p style="text-align: left;"em-Rhea (aka. shurtugxl)/em/p 


End file.
